So Child 44 did pick up pretty well. Worth the dodgy start, I say. Having now looked into the film (which I haven't seen), I can confirm that the story bares little relation to the novel, so don'tuse the film as a basis for picking this up.

After this, I began on Bridge On The River Kwai - which, I didn't know, was not only originally in French but was by the same person who wrote the basis for Planet Of The Apes. The latter is its US title - in Britain it was called simply "Monkey Planet"... Kwai has quite a darker ending to the film, so don't expect just a novelisation of the Alec Guinness masterpiece.

And now, I've potentially made a mistake by starting (right before Xmas and the new haul of books that brings) the 900-plus-page Wolf Among Wolves by Hans Fallada, set in Berlin in 1923. There's poverty, there's whoring, there's a lot so far to make it seem like I'll power through and finish it before I go home.

Wolf Among Wolves was very, very good - even if it took me most of Christmas and into January to finish. A few points in the later parts didn't seem to read clearly, as if it was making a point that I didn't understand or lacked a piece of information. I put this down to potential translation issues, though, which are a separate sub-realm of things to enjoy/acknowledge about translated work.

After that, I started on my Xmas books haul with the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic - the source for the film Stalker, and in turn for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. It was written in the early 70s and gives me a bit of a Philip K Dick vibe in terms of the world it wants to present. Anyway, if you've seen/played either of the above then this is worth a go. It's a lot shorter than I expected, though.

...which is how I so quickly came to be reading, now, a book by Volker Kutscher called Babylon Berlin - actually it's got a much cooler name in German, but it's apparently been adapted for a Sky series and so it got released (either for the first time, or a re-branded re-release) under the show's title. The mate who bought me it has neither red it nor watched the show, but heard about it and is a big Philip Kerr fan, and he hoped it was akin to the Bernie Gunther novels. It's pretty good so far tbh - set in Berlin in 1929, following a mid-level detective who isn't as grizzled, competent or cool as the archetype would have you expect. Full verdict once finished, which may be sooner rather than later because I'm blowing through it atm.

Last edited by The Jackal on Sat Jan 19, 2019 12:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

After that, I started on my Xmas books haul with the Tarkovskys' Roadside Picnic - the source for the film Stalker, and in turn for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. It was written in the early 70s and gives me a bit of a Philip K Dick vibe in terms of the world it wants to present. Anyway, if you've seen/played either of the above then this is worth a go. It's a lot shorter than I expected, though.

I had a free trial for Audible due to expire tomorrow and was going to let it go as I've struggled to find many audio books that I like the sound of from the previews, certain genres are very limited in their library too. However I just happened upon Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian and it has pretty glowing reviews. Paid up for the month and just sitting down to start listening.

Bit of a PSA this, but just seen that all of Sapkowski's English-translated Witcher novels are currently 99p apiece on Amazon for Kindle... I already had The Last Wish and the first three series novels, but I've just completed my collection by buying the four others for the price of a London pint.

Babylon Berlin was very good, and I do hope that they've translated more into English. Couldn't possibly recommend the show based on it, but if it keeps to the storyline and portrays the period in the same way, then certainly give it a go.

I then went into Bomber by Len Deighton. This is one of those books I've been meaning to read forever. In short, it's a story told over 24 hours from the POV of an RAF bomber crew, various figures on their base and neighbouring village, and a night-fighter pilot, radar controller, and numerous civilians in a small town in Germany.
I really enjoyed it for the first three-quarters. After this, I wanted to cry and go for a breather and a cigarette. Deighton really knows how to get you invested into multiple characters, and then tear them away from you. While you're trying to figure out why we can't have nice things, and why it feels like you should never read another novel so as to prevent another fictional death, Deighton manages to depict some very poignant points about the bomber war, as could be discerned in 1970.

Staggering out of this, I curled up into Metro 2035 (by Dmitri Glukhovsky) both to finish the trilogy and in case I get to play Metro Exodus. Enjoying it so far, but my version is printed by Amazon (I don't know if they all are, but...) and the formatting is jarring at first - for instance, some names have a CapitaL LetteR at the start and end, for some reason, and the speech-marks will start here," instead of here, "which can be a pain to follow."